As far as San Diego State football coach Rocky Long is concerned, getting Bob Toledo to agree to become his new offensive coordinator and sign a two-year contract at a fee of $300,000 annually, means the Aztecs just netted themselves the bargain of the year.

“I think it’s a pretty special hire,” Long said. “You don’t normally see a guy with his experience and success come back to a conference like ours – whichever it is – as a coordinator.”

The Aztecs don’t know whether they’ll be playing in the Mountain West or Big East next season, but they do know who will be calling the plays.

Toledo, 66, is a San Jose native who is best known for his success at UCLA in the late nineties. He was Long’s first choice for the coordinator position vacated by Andy Ludwig.

Long characterized Toledo as an innovative offensive coach who is renowned in college football, and especially in California.

“Getting a guy with his reputation and his experience settled all our offensive recruits down,” Long said. “And I think just his name in California will help us recruit on the offensive side of the ball.”

The Aztecs’ coach said it wasn’t all that difficult to lure Toledo out of retirement. He sealed the deal on the strength of their relationship.

“First of all, we’re really good friends,” Long said. “Second of all, we know how we both work. I’ve worked for him, he worked for me, and we got along really well. Our philosophies are the same. He knows that I don’t mess with the offense, that’s his show.

“I have great trust he’ll be able to do great things with the offense that haven’t been done up to this time.”

The coach was reluctant to compare Toledo’s offense to Ludwig’s, but said there are distinct similarities in the two systems.

“My experience being around coach Toledo is he’ll be very inventive. He’s the best play caller I’ve ever competed against,” Long said. “I think he’s the best play caller I’ve ever been around.

“I think the offense being different will be determined by him once he gets feel for the players we have.”